Cookie
52 Highly Festive Holiday Cookie Recipes From Our Favorite Bakers
A collection of extra-special treats and stories full of cheer—straight from the Food52 team, community, and a few star cookie-bakers, too.
Photo by Rocky Luten. Food stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop stylist: Brooke Deonarine.
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28 Comments
aura A.
February 24, 2022
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Vanessa W.
January 2, 2021
This years favorite was the fruitcake cookie my sisters and I love fruitcake but none of our kids or grandkids (they only like apple pie) will even try them so I decided to make the cookies and sprinkle them with powdered sugar after cooling. I gave cookie tins to my sisters and they were thrilled the recipe called for 3 cups of pecans along with candied fruit, dates, raisins, I also added tart cherries, dried apricots, and soaked all in 1/4 cup blackberry brandy. Every cookie is like eating a piece of fruitcake. Yum
SilverInBlood
December 14, 2020
It's the infinity shaped kringla that always make me think of family Christmas :) and lefse with leftover mashed potatoes! One of these days I'll make it myself, but as long as mom's alive I'll prefer her version as the most authentic (to me)
TatianaMH
December 12, 2020
My husband’s grandmother was a Swedish immigrant. She worked as a pastry chef to wealthy families in NYC. One of her recipes, that my husband requests I make every year for Christmas, is for Walnut Cookies. It is a very simple brown sugar dough packed full of chopped walnuts that is packed into a loaf pan, chilled, then sliced very thinly and baked. So simple. SO DELICIOUS. It wouldn’t be Christmas without them.
LAURIE
November 13, 2020
The one tradition I have is making peanut butter balls, a recipe passed down by my grandmother. I showed up without them one Christmas and was surprised how much it ment to my nephews.
kellyhere
December 18, 2019
For me, Alice Medrich's Russian Tea Cookies (https://food52.com/recipes/67298-russian-tea-cakes) are the essence of Christmas. I make many batches each year to share with family and friends. The dough is perfect for raspberry jam thumbprints, too.
gissel4115
December 16, 2019
I would absolutely try any of these helpful tips and make some of the best treats
chevy
December 13, 2019
The latest addition to our (new!) family holiday cookie tradition is Martha Stewart's chewy molasses cookies, or Merrill's peanut butter cookies for a safe bet!
Janice K.
December 13, 2019
I've been making these for decades, so much better than pecan pie--a must every Christmas--I have to give most of them away though or I'll eat them all! Happy Holidays everyone!
https://www.mywoodstockkitchen.com/blog/pecan-diamonds
https://www.mywoodstockkitchen.com/blog/pecan-diamonds
HalfPint
December 11, 2019
These Cherry Cheesecake cookies, https://www.dessertfortwo.com/cherry-cheesecake-cookies/
OMG. So. Good.
OMG. So. Good.
Kathy M.
December 10, 2019
We make grandma's sugar cookies. It's a pretty standard roll out, crispy cookie. But the scraps are rerolled and cut with my tiny cookie cutters...We call them animal crackers. This year my six year old grand daughter asked if we could just make animal crackers. I am making a batch of dough just for that! It's a great idea.
Thank you to everyone who let us see these great recipes...getting butter out as I write.
Thank you to everyone who let us see these great recipes...getting butter out as I write.
Zorro
December 6, 2019
At Christmas my mom would always made refrigerator cookies using condensed milk, graham wafer crumbs, walnuts, miniature marshmallows and maraschino cherries. There was no baking and all the ingredients were put together in a bowl, stirred, then rolled into cookie logs dusted with icing sugar. The logs were put in the fridge to set and then mom would slice them up. Yum yum. My mom just passed away last month and I miss her terribly. I love all the cookie recipes but I love the stories associated with them even more. Merry Christmas everyone!
Deedledum
December 7, 2019
I'm sorry about your Mom Zorro.
My Nana used to make these, but rolled them into balls, and mailed them (along with other goodies-banana jam too!) each yr. I've been looking for a recipe for them for yrs-would you mind sharing it?
My Nana used to make these, but rolled them into balls, and mailed them (along with other goodies-banana jam too!) each yr. I've been looking for a recipe for them for yrs-would you mind sharing it?
Zorro
December 7, 2019
Thank you for your kind words. I also didn't write down this recipe from mom but I did find something similar on the Eagle Brand website. If you Google "Festive Snowflakes" and click on the Eagle Brand website or go directly there and type in "Festive Snowflakes" you can find it. I hope this helps you! Merry Christmas!
Eric K.
December 10, 2019
I'm so sorry for your loss, Zorro. Three of my cousins lost their parents this year (three deaths in the family within months of each other), and one of my best friends died of cancer. I don't know about you, but these losses make this Christmas feel even more important to celebrate. Hope you're taking care of yourself this holiday season.
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Nicki
December 6, 2019
Spoon Cookes from Gourmet Magazine circa 2005... The lead in to the article started "Once a year at Christmas I make the best cookies in the world. It very nearly kills me." I read that and thought "I have to make these cookies." I did. And now I do. Every year. At least 7-8 batches. And it very nearly kills me, But they are SO worth the effort. (And if I didn't make them, well attendance at our annual Holiday Party would probably decline.... and mu co-workers would be quite unhappy. (
Susi S.
December 7, 2019
I love these cookies! I began filling them with chestnut puree, and they are sublime! Dulce de leche or cajeta is another favorite filling.
granjan
December 18, 2019
That article was so lovely. And expresses so well the sentiments of anyone who spends hours making their favorite holiday cookies. Spoon cookies have become the #1 favorite for 2 family members over our equally tedious and delicious cream wafers.
anniette
December 6, 2019
Thank you! These are lovely. My mother makes "Church Window Cookies" with candied cherries and pecans in a powdered sugar shortbread. They are my favorite, with a glass of Madeira. I like to try different recipes that catch my fancy: I'll try several of these. But my friends and family always want my chocolate chip cookies—big and flat, crisp on the outside and caramel-like within.
Kimberly P.
December 6, 2019
This is a traditional family recipe, as written by my Grandma Margaret, from her mother Anna Amanda Braucksieker Schaberg:
Hazelnut Halfmoons (Haselnuss-Halbmonde)
5 oz. hazelnuts, ground
2 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. sugar
½ lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
vanilla sugar for dipping
Mix hazelnuts, flour, sugar and butter. Roll out 3/16” thick. Cut into half-moon shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 275ºF for 30 minutes, or until just golden—they burn easily. While hot, dip in vanilla sugar.
Pretty simple, but over many years I’ve learned some tricks.
When Grandma made them, Grandpa used a hand-cranked nut grinder to grind the hazelnuts. I use the food processor. Based on recommendations from other recipes, I grind the nuts with the sugar to minimize the chance of making nut butter. Add the butter to the processor and mix, then add the flours and mix until blended.
Roll 3/16” thick and cut half moon shapes. Grandma used a round drinking glass and cut two overlapping circles, so for every two crescent moons there was a football. I have a crescent-shaped cutter. Reroll trimmings and continue to cut until all dough is used; it doesn’t seem to get tough with handling. I was having difficulty with the cookies sticking to the baking sheets, so now use an anti-stick baking mat or parchment paper.
Bake at 275ºF until just golden. The original directions state that they burn easily; I’ve never had this happen, but depending on your oven they may need to bake for 35 minutes or more.
Handle the cookies gently, they break easily. I typically lose about 10%; these are the cook’s dividend!
While still warm roll in a plate of vanilla sugar.
Vanilla sugar is made by storing granulated sugar in a jar with a vanilla bean. It can be a pod that has been used for a custard and then washed and dried, or an empty pod that has been emptied of seeds for another dish. Grandma had, and I have, a jar in the cupboard all the time. It will take about a cup to coat all the cookies.
Yield is between 5 and 6 dozen cookies.
Hazelnut Halfmoons (Haselnuss-Halbmonde)
5 oz. hazelnuts, ground
2 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. sugar
½ lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
vanilla sugar for dipping
Mix hazelnuts, flour, sugar and butter. Roll out 3/16” thick. Cut into half-moon shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 275ºF for 30 minutes, or until just golden—they burn easily. While hot, dip in vanilla sugar.
Pretty simple, but over many years I’ve learned some tricks.
When Grandma made them, Grandpa used a hand-cranked nut grinder to grind the hazelnuts. I use the food processor. Based on recommendations from other recipes, I grind the nuts with the sugar to minimize the chance of making nut butter. Add the butter to the processor and mix, then add the flours and mix until blended.
Roll 3/16” thick and cut half moon shapes. Grandma used a round drinking glass and cut two overlapping circles, so for every two crescent moons there was a football. I have a crescent-shaped cutter. Reroll trimmings and continue to cut until all dough is used; it doesn’t seem to get tough with handling. I was having difficulty with the cookies sticking to the baking sheets, so now use an anti-stick baking mat or parchment paper.
Bake at 275ºF until just golden. The original directions state that they burn easily; I’ve never had this happen, but depending on your oven they may need to bake for 35 minutes or more.
Handle the cookies gently, they break easily. I typically lose about 10%; these are the cook’s dividend!
While still warm roll in a plate of vanilla sugar.
Vanilla sugar is made by storing granulated sugar in a jar with a vanilla bean. It can be a pod that has been used for a custard and then washed and dried, or an empty pod that has been emptied of seeds for another dish. Grandma had, and I have, a jar in the cupboard all the time. It will take about a cup to coat all the cookies.
Yield is between 5 and 6 dozen cookies.
Dominique D.
December 5, 2019
We don't have many holiday cookie traditions (most traditions involve lobster and bacon), but I've been making London Fog icebox cookies for a few years, from Chatelaine Magazine in Canada. We also make big gingerbread men with molasses cookie dough, which yields a cookie with a soft but not too fluffy interior. I'm looking forward to trying new ones!
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